Trass-can



A. E. JOSEPHSON.

TRASH CAN.

I ATION FILED JULY 2. I920 Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

2 SHEETS SHEET l- [AN [AN-[ANDY Wa v TUUEHiNE ll I 2 fi- M Wimp" A. E.JOSEPHSON.

TRASH CAN.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. 1920.

1,363,122. Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATEii rarest orrIcE.

TRASH-CAN.

App1ication filed. July 2, 1920.

T 0 all whom it may 0012 cam Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. JOSEPH-SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baton Rouge, in theparish of East Baton Rouge and State of Louisiana, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Trash-Cans; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to trash cans such as are used especially in thecity for the cleposit of light trash, such as newspapers, fruitpcelings, peach stones, or the like; and it is intended to provide acheap, simple and yet attractive looking can, the mouth of which may bekept automatically closed to prevent the swarming of flies, or therising of offensive odors, and which may be used like a sign post toindicate the intersections of streets, and also for advertisingpurposes, so that the can will have a material value besides theinherent utility of the device as a receptacle in which to dump trash.

My invention will be more fully understood after reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which like parts are indicated by similarreference symbols throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 isa perspective view of one of the complete cans constructed according tomy invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1, parts being brokenaway and the advertising matter being omitted.

Fig. 3 shows a section along the line 33 of Fig. 2, and looking in thedirection of the arrows.

Fig. at shows a section along the line H of Fig. 3, and looking down;and

Fig. 5 is a perspective'view on a smaller scale of one of the gravityclosed doors used in connection with the throat of the can.

A represents the body of the can which is preferably made square orrectangular in cross section, and is provided with beaded edges o. Thebottom of the can is preferably closed by a bottom plate A, having itsedges bent to form a groove a to receive the lower ends of the sideplates forming the outer shell of the can.

Suitable supporting legs B are also provided at the corners of the can,which not only serve to support the can but also to Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

Serial No. 393,580.

stiifen same. On the interior of the can I provide suitable hooks C,preferably at the corners, to engage the edges of the mouth of a sack D,which may be made of canvas or other suitable material.

The top of the can is closed by a rectangular cap E, preferably in theform of a truncated pyramid having its upper edges beaded, as at c, toinclose the stiffening wire 6. The lower edges of the sides of this capare flanged, as at e, to rest on the beaded edges a of the main body ofthe can. These flanges e are looped so as to inclose the flanges e ofthe guide plates E which project down into the top of the can, as shownmost clearly in Fig. 3, and these guide plates have their bottom edgesbent over, as at e to stiffen same.

The throat of the can is rectangular in cross section, and is providedwith the side walls E said throat being bent top and bottom. The bottomof the throat is normally closed by the doors F, one of which is shownin detail in Fig. 5. These doors are preferably each formed of a metalplate, having the ears F flanged upward, as at f, and perforated, as atf", to receive the ends of the pivot rods G which are secured onopposite sides of the throat, as shown in Fig. 3.

The outer edge of each door is provided with a counter-poise weight Fwhich will normally tend to keep the inner ends 7 of the doors in theclosed position shown in Fig. 3. These inner ends are preferably doubledover, as shown, so as to add the desired stiffnose.

It will be evident that by pressing down on the doors, either with theobject to be dropped into the can, or by hand, any ob ject not too largemay be dropped into the can and the doors will automatically return tothe initial position.

At stated intervals, or whenever desired, the cap E of the can may beremoved and the sack D taken out and emptied and reinserted if cleanenough, or a new one replaced; or the bag with its contents may be takenaway, the bag emptied and washed, and the contents disposed of asdesired.

The trash can is especially intended. for use at street corners and foradvertising purposes. Thus I have shown the cap as marked with theletters G St. N. VV., on one side, and 8th St. N W., on the other,assuming that the can is placed at the intersection of 8th and Gstreets, N. while the sides of the can may be used to bear advertisingsigns of any suitable kind, such,

for instance, as Use Venus soap, or Can in its use as a slgn post,suitable indices,

such as the arrows m and y, see Fig. 1, may be used to show how theparts are to be assembled.

It will be seen that the operative parts of the door are entirelyscreened from injury, being held in the chamber in the cap, and the endsof the doors only project acrossthe bottom of: the throat and normallykeep the throat of the receptacle closed, but the doors will readilyyield when it is desired to insert any object in the receptacle. Thusthe can will be effectually closed under normal conditions.

The construction of the cap causes the same to be rigid and durable, andthe cap is not likely to become so bent or distorted as not to fitsnugly on and cover the top of the can.

There is nothing unseemly or objectionable as to the appearance of thecan, and its contents are screened from the eyes of the passerby, sothat the can may be a matter of attractiveness rather than an eyesore,as is commonly the case with receptacles of this kind.

By having the top of the can more or less constricted the amount of rainor snow that falls in the same would be comparatively small. If desiredsuitable drain holes may be provided in the bottom plate A and sack tocarry ofi any water that falls into the can.

It will be obvious that various modifications might be made in theherein described device, and in the construction, combination andarrangement of parts which could be used without departing from thespirit of my invention; and I do not mean to limit the invention to suchdetails except as particularly pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is 1. A trash can comprising arectangular body portion provided with hooks on the interior thereofadapted to engage a bag, and a removable rectangular cap portion in theform of a truncated pyramid provided with a flange adapted to rest onthe top of said body portion and with guide plates below said flangeadapted to project into said body portion, throat walls provided in saidcap, forming a vertically disposed passage therethrough, pivot rodssecured to the exterior of opposite walls of said throat, and a pair ofdoors pivoted in said cap, each door being made of a single plate havingits sides bent to form parallel stiiiening wings, with perforations insaid wings engaging the ends of said pivot rods, and each door having acounterweight adapted to normally retain said door in the position forclosing said throat, substantially as described.

2. A trash can comprising a rectangular body portion, and a removablerectangular cap portion in the form of a truncated pyramid provided witha flange adapted to rest on the top of said body portion and with guideplates below said flange adapted to project into said body portion,throat walls provided in said cap, forming a vertically disposedrectangular passage therethrough, pivot rods secured to the exterior ofopposite walls ofsaid throat, and a pair of doors pivoted in said cap,each door being made of a single plate having its sides bent to formparallel stiffening wings, with perforations in said wings engaging theends or said pivot rods, and each door having a counterweight adapted tonormally retain said door in the position for closing said throat,substantially as described.

ALEXANDER E. J OSEPHSON.

